30 September 2009

John Keller is a hit man. He's also a regular kind of guy going through a midlife crisis. It is a bit bizarre to describe a book about murders and a paid assassin as being fun, but that's the word I used when I finished this book in 2005. Keller is a hoot! Recommended for fans of black humor.

I don't remember the plot well enough to write a summary, so here's one from Powell's:

Keller is a killer. Professional, cool, confident, competent, reliable. But he is also a complex person: Guarded and reclusive, icy and ruthlessly efficient, he is prone to loneliness and self-doubt, nightmares and career worries. He is known to his therapist as a "corporate troubleshooter," but Keller's real business is murder. He lives the life of a well-paid but lonely traveling businessman, a habitue of impersonal hotel rooms, bleak stretches of highways in rental cars, and anonymous eateries. A born New Yorker, he nonetheless fantasizes about the good life in the country, and in every place he visits, he dreams of setting up a home, away from the pressures and moral complexities his line of work entails.

Hit Man, the first in a series, was published by HarperTorch in 1998. Robert Forster read the audio skillfully, adding to my enjoyment of the book.

I had to laugh at you questioning your description of "fun" for this book. Just this week I called a memoir about breast cancer "funny," then figured people would question my sanity for juxtaposing the two phrases. I kept it in, the author *is* funny. I'll get out the thesaurus next time ...

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About Me

I'm a freelance book editor, reviewer, and journalist blogging as Beth Fish. On these pages, you'll find book reviews, book features, and other bookish content. I like to spotlight my favorite imprints and I'm a long-time audiobook lover. (I was the Audio Publishers Association's 2016 Audiobook Blogger of the Year!) Each Saturday I host my popular Weekend Cooking feature. Don't forget to look for my weekly photograph. You can find me on social media as @BethFishReads. Publicists, publishers, authors: please see my review policy. NB: I did not work on any book mentioned on this site.

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